Leona McGrath has just participated in the Walk with Midwifes, as part of closing the gap for Indigenous health outcomes in Australia.

“When I had my own children, I often say that if I had another black face in the clinic, in the birthing room, on the postnatal ward, I know my experience would have been a whole lot different.”

Her reason for wanting to become a midwife was to look after her own people. Leona was aware of the health disparities in Australia. But she was horrified to learn, at university, just how bad infant and maternal Aboriginal health outcomes are. This knowledge spurred her on, a single parent, to complete her Bachelor of Midwifery.

Leona’s family story shapes her as the strong and passionate person she is today.

Her great-grandmother, a Woppaburra woman from Great Keppel Island, was taken to the mainland in chains.